Kaiser Vlad
Kaiser Vlad is the main antagonist of the Battalion Wars series, and with good reason. He's tried to take over the world, and then he tried to get Qa-Len's Staff so he could destroy his enemies and make the entire world his. "Our victory may be postponed, but the torch of destiny still burns brightly for Xylvania!" - Kaiser Vlad Biography Background Little is known about the Kaiser's past except that he is the ruler of Xylvania and is trying to take over the world like his ancestor, Lord Ferrok, Also it is suggested that Vlad could very well be more than 100 years old, since the current model of the Xylvanian Heavy Tank had been a "present" to the Kaiser on his 97th birthday. Since his rise to power, he has been intent upon reclaiming Xylvania's stolen legacy of world domination. The Frontier Wars 30 Years before the Global War, Vlad, in his search of the "Staff of Legend", tricked Tsar Gorgi with rumors of a superweapon being developed in the Western Frontier. He proceeded to conduct mining operations around the continent. However, his activities were eventually discovered by a Frontier Recon just prior to the opening stage of the assault on the Tundran HQ during the first Frontier War. The Global War During the restarted-Frontier Wars, Tsar Gorgi visited Vlad in a attempt to gain his support to expell the invading Western Frontier out of the Tundran Territories, Vlad "agreed" with the condition of Gorgi giving up the Dune Sea's soveriegnty to Xylvania. however, when the time came, Vlad sent Countess Ingrid to bomb both sides during a pivotal battle. His first offensive effort, a Xylvanian Invasion of the Dune Sea, ended in defeat with the destruction and capture of several Nerocrite mining facilities. Vlad then, surprisingly, gathered his forces and marched on the Solar Empire in the Coral Atolls, but the Frontier-Tundran Alliance formed up with the Solar Empire to make the Alliance of Nations and drove the Xers (Western Frontier, slang for people from Xylvania) from the Coral Atolls. The Alliance later launched an all-out attack on Xylvania. After the all-powerful Iron Legion was awoken, the Alliance destroyed them and captured the Xylvanian capital, the Vladstag. however, Vlad escaped via a T-copter and went into hiding for a few years. The Quest for the Staff of Qa-Len & The Fall of Tundra He reappears during Battalion Wars 2 in which he tricks the Anglo Isles into invading the Solar Empire by somehow spreading a rumor about a superweapon and then launches a invasion into Tundra while it was preoccupied with assisting the Solar Empire's Invasion into the Anglo Isles. Before and during the conflict, he had been secretly searching for the Staff of Qa-Len, a lost relic from the Lightning Wars that would activate the Satellite weapon of mass destruction, and building a giant machine, the 'Mining Spider', in the far North of Tundra to dig it up once its location had been confirmed. Despite his successful deception of turning the Solar Empire and Tundran Territories against the Anglo Isles and his defensive efforts to keep them away from his operations, Vlad's Xylvanian forces and his Mining Spider were destroyed. But not before he found the Staff of Qa-Len and tried to use it to destroy the Allies. Unfortunately for him, Vlad's T-copter was shot down by Commander Pierce and he, along with Ubel, ended up being trapped in the caves that the mining spider had dug out. While they are stuck deep in the dark, icy caves trying to dig themselves out, the Kaiser announces that the Xylvanian army will return once again and that Xylvania will have a shining future. However, just when he says this, their (last?) match goes out. Personality Even though Kaiser Vlad is not a cruel dictator like his ancestor Lord Ferrok, he is still obsessed with world domination like him and is a rather ridiculous and somewhat egomaniacal person. He tries to appear calm and sure of his superiority but he can also be quite clumsy. He likes to shout a lot and to scare others, but it is clear he could never be dictator of the world. His shouts often reveal ambushes or his plans, most notably during the events of Operation Nautilus, or in "The Reckoning" when he gives away his escape plan, only to have Pierce immediantly shoot it down. Trivia *In the ending of Battalion Wars 2, Kaiser Vlad stated that the "Xylvanian Light of Destiny" still burned brightly, but it went out and it was revealed it was just a normal match. *He has somehow lost touch with reality, since he really believes Xylvania could take over the entire world in the "traditional way" even though it has been defeated so many times. His vision of global politics and domination seems to be an anachronism. However, when Ingrid tries to bring the Iron Legion back to life the Kaiser plays "voice of reason" and wants to save her from doing the biggest mistake of her life. He is afraid of her losing control and knew that it was impossible for any modern Xylvanian to control the Legion. * Kaiser Vlad's name is a combination of Vlad Tepes and Kaiser Wilhelm II while his character is based on the latter with the ambitions and ideals of Adolf Hitler. * During Operation Nautilus, Kaiser Vlad's quote "Run Silent, Run Deep. Submarines, submerge and attack!" is a reference to a 1955 novel by Edward L. Beach Jr. * He acknowledges the player with a line of dialogue in the Western Frontier campaign mission "Enemies Undone" that reads as follows: "Your actions only provoke me, Kommander. Someday, you shall feel the true wrath of Xylvania." This is one of three times in the game that the enemy CO speaks directly to the player, the other two being Tsar Gorgi in the same mission and Commander Pierce in the Solar Empire campaign mission, "Rally the Defenses". * He speaks a line in the final mission that goes: "Now witness the firepower of this fully-armed and operational Mining Spider!" A very similar line was spoken by Emperor Palpatine in Return of the Jedi. His ancestor Lord Ferrok, coincidentally, speaks a Star Wars line of his own, this one taken from Darth Vader from the same movie, in the Iron Legion mission "Apocalypse", saying "Perhaps I should find new ways to motive you, Kommander!" See also *Xylvania *Kommandant Ubel Category:Commanding Officers Category:Xylvanian Officers Category:Debuted in Battalion Wars